The U.S. imported fewer shoes last year, and China’s share continues to slide.
In the year to Oct. 31, 2017, the U.S. imported $21.2 billion worth of footwear from around the world, just a slight 0.9% sag from the same period the previous year.
China still dominates the market, commanding 56 percent of U.S. footwear imports, according to U.S. Department of Commerce data released last month. As of October, the U.S. imported $11.9 billion worth of footwear from China—nearly triple what came in from Vietnam, the second largest footwear supplier to the U.S. China, however, shipped fewer shoes to the U.S. year over year, its market share dropping from 58.6% in October 2016 to 56.4% last October.
Vietnam’s footwear exports to the U.S., on the other hand, grew 11 percent to $4.5 billion.
After China and Vietnam, Indonesia, Italy, India, Mexico, Cambodia, Spain, the Dominican Republic and Brazil, rounded out the top footwear importers to the U.S.
Indonesia exported $1.25 billion worth of footwear to the U.S., a 5.4% increase over the prior year period. Imports from Italy were nearly flat to last year at $1.11 billion, a 0.37% increase over the prior year’s $1.106 billion.
The Dominican Republic saw the biggest drop in footwear import market share of any of the top 10 suppliers to the U.S., with its shoe supply falling more than 28 percent to $171 million, slowed just slightly from the 30 percent decline in its year over year exports recorded in September.
